Hundreds of patients in Cornwall waiting over a year for hospital treatment
Worrying figures have been revealed at a Royal Cornwall Hospitals' Trust board meeting
More than 40 people in Cornwall have had to wait more than two years for hospital treatment while another 1,400 have had to wait more than a year.
Details of long waiting lists in Cornwall were revealed at a meeting of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) board on Thursday morning.
Chief operating officer Susan Bracefield told the board members that there were currently 46 people in Cornwall who had been waiting for more than 104 weeks for treatment.
She said: "It is still very troubling that we have that number of people in Cornwall who have been waiting for two years".
And she explained: "For many of those 46 patients they are casualties of how we look at patients and assess them for treatment, we look at the harm they are experiencing".
The board heard that most of the 46 longest waiting people were orthopaedic patients who might be waiting for treatment such as joint replacements.
Susan said that whilst their conditions would be affecting their quality of life they had to make patients with more urgent needs a priority.
In addition the board heard that there are currently 1,408 people who have been waiting for more than 52 weeks for treatment.
Susan said: "That is an eye-watering number but when looking at other trusts, I know there is a trust, not far from here, with 3,000 people with a 52 week wait".
The board heard that RCHT is working with other partners in the health system including the Duchy Hospital to try and help clear the backlog of patients awaiting treatment.
Figures published showed that in October there were 19 patients who had been waiting more than two years for treatment but that had risen to 46 in January.
Similarly, in October there were 1,131 people who had been waiting for more than a year but that has now risen to 1,408.
Nationally, figures show that there are record numbers of people waiting for non-urgent treatment and procedures.
Last month it was reported that in December there were 6.1million people in England waiting for an operation – the highest number since records began in 2007.
It was also revealed that more than 310,000 people across the country had been waiting for more than 52 weeks.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that one-year waits should be eradicated by March 2025.